As the Conservative Party gets into full swing after a shaky start, here are my concluding thoughts on the Ukip conference… Saturday at the Ukip conference. On entering the hall I was immediately struck by the difference in atmosphere. There was a lot less hustle and bustle, fewer people, less noise and less energy in…

Nigel Farage surprised the conference hall when he suddenly cut his speech short by twenty minutes and said “I think i’ve sadi enough” before introudiving a “special guest”, none other than Tory MP Mark Reckless who announced his intention to resign and stand for a by-election as a Ukip MP. This defection is a heavier…

When Ukip chose to hold their conference in Doncaster it was obviously meant to send a signal. They were “parking their tanks on Labour’s lawn”, it was to be an act of naked political aggression. I have long found the Ukip of the north to be a curious element of the party. The activists, enthusiasts,…

What this cover photo – of Douglas Carswell and Dan Hannan’s “The Plan” – does not show is the clear endorsement David Cameron offered to Carswell ahead of the election. It was printed on the back cover, and related to the earlier pamphlet on which the book was based. The Plan itself consists of some…

Former Bogpaper columnist, James Delingpole, wrote two thoughtful pieces, voicing his worries that Ukip lacks an overarching ideology. He fears that, without any such firm commitment, Ukip, too, will succumb to political pressure from interest groups. But comrade Delingpole’s concerns are misplaced. Democracy trumps ideology every time. A preliminary question. What makes Ukip so special?…

Having voted UKIP for their constitutional policies, and largely ignoring the immigration issue that say Rob Waller found problematic I thought I should double back and take a closer look at their actual immigration policy. That policy is expressed on the Where we stand page in four bullet points, I’ll tackle three of them: •…

So I decided to vote None of The Above in the European Elections today — but I included a little note. For those of you who struggled like me with what was the best move to promote individual freedom I hope you think this was a reasonable approach. It was the best I could come…

This article is neither an endorsement of UKIP – a party with obvious challenges which we’ve discussed before – nor is it an ode the amazing power of the media to control my mind. It has no such power, it is laughably incompetent to wield the power it does have. However, I am now fully…

Labour has held on to its seat in the Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election with a comfortable majority while UKIP beat the Tories to second place. Michael Kane won with 13,261 votes, beating UKIP’s John Bickley, with 4,301, in second. BBC In other news, Paul Tew has reiterated his intention to stand for UKIP in…